February 27, TSN Broadband: To say the least, I'm very excited [about the trade]. It's an opportunity to play with some very outstanding players in Nick, Schneid, and Dats and Z and I'm very much so looking forward to the opportunity.

He knew early on that he wasn't going to be a Panther on February 27th:

We met with the Panthers three weeks ago about what their plans were with me and they indicated no long term or any term with me, the writing was on the wall and we knew something would happen and I'm very fortunate that Detroit has faith in me and know that I'll come back and will play well for them.

Bertuzzi says he hasn't completely recovered from his back surgery, but he's close:

I'm getting there health-wise. I've spoken with them, and I'm just going to take a little more time to make sure that the back is 100%, it's not a case where we're in the heat of the playoffs and something happens, so I want to make sure that I'm completely healthy.

The Red Wings are well aware of his injury situation, and he expects to generate a timeline with them on Wednesday:

We've had good dialogue with [The Red Wings] and I'll be flying into Detroit tomorrow and we'll talk more then.